PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES DETECTED IN N. KOREA

[Anchor Lead]

Following its warning of waging an anti-Seoul propaganda leaflet campaign, North Korea appears to be reinstalling loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border. While devising measures to deal with North Korean leaflets, the South Korean military repeatedly urged the North to end the propaganda campaign.

[Pkg]

South Korean military and intelligence authorities spotted North Korea working to reinstall loudspeakers in the Demilitarized Zone. The North is said to be reinstalling the loudspeakers simultaneously in at least 20 sites along the western and central fronts. The two Koreas each demolished propaganda loudspeakers in around 40 frontline areas in line with the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration after the summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In the declaration, the two Koreas agreed to end all hostile acts against each other. The North Korean military is reinstalling the devices two years after they were removed. It appears the move is a follow-up to Pyongyang's pledge to take four military actions against Seoul, which was announced last Wednesday by a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. The South Korean military is also known to be planning to restore its loudspeaker system or deploy portable broadcasting devices at the border, if North Korea resumes propaganda broadcasts. The military is also devising measures to address North Korean propaganda leaflets that are sent across the border into the South. Pyongyang warned that it has prepared multiple means to fly the leaflets deep into South Korea, suggesting the possibility that it could mobilize more advanced devices like drones as well as the conventional means of balloons.

[Soundbite] JEONG KYEONG-DOO(DEFENSE MINISTER) : "I cannot specify, since we will employ different responses depending on North Korea's methods and means to fly leaflets."

Seoul's defense ministry called on North Korea to cancel the leaflet campaign plan, as it will neither help improve cross-border relations nor correct wrong practices from the past.